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Toolkit and Resources for SNA Members

Table of Contents

National School Breakfast WeekMarch 2-6, 2015

“Make the Grade with School Breakfast” ....2

Celebration Ideas ............................................4

Super-Smart Tools & Resources ..................5

Fast Facts ........................................................7

Promote Your Program! .................................8

Menu Marketing ..............................................9

“School Breakfast: Before & After”

Art Contest .................................................10

Share Your Celebration ................................11

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You already know that school breakfast helps your students get a successful start to their day. Use your National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) promotion to remind parents, administrators, and students about the critical link between school breakfast and academic success!

The NSBW 2015 theme, “Make the Grade with School Breakfast” is all about the learning connection between healthy breakfast and good grades, attendance, and less visits to the nurse’s office. SNA encourages you to check out available research and studies on the topic (see page 7) and use key statistics and findings as part of your celebration.

“Make the Grade with School Breakfast”

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MEMBER CELEBRATION EXAMPLE: We reach out to the local

hockey team and a local baseball team to

see if any players can come in and join us

for breakfast. We also decorate the cafeteria

with posters about the importance of eating

a healthy breakfast and serve an entirely hot

and fresh menu, including fresh fruits daily,

breakfast pizza, and other delicious items.

—Allie Toldo, Production Supervisor, Rockford

Public Schools, IL

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National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) was launched in 1989 to raise awareness about the availability of the school breakfast program. Each year, SNA helps you celebrate this important week with a fun theme, resources, and fresh ideas. These tools will help you increase participation in your breakfast program and get positive attention from parents, the community, and the media.

NSBW is scheduled for March 2-6, 2015. But you can celebrate whenever is most convenient for you and your staff!

NSBW provides a great platform to share important facts with your audiences, like:

u SBP meals meet federal dietary guidelines

u It’s a healthy and affordable way for kids to start the day.

u There is an established link between eating breakfast and academic success.

MEMBER CELEBRATION

EXAMPLE: I love to decorate the

cafeteria and kitchen with fun facts and

have balloons hanging around - it makes

all the kids interested and excited to come

in. —Jorge Hernandez, Cafeteria Manager,

Orange County Public Schools, FL

What is NSBW?

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u Decorate the cafeteria with NSBW posters and balloons from the SNA Emporium.

u Use the handouts, flyers, and backpack brochures (available for download on the SNA website) to educate students about school breakfast

u Invite a local celebrity to eat breakfast with students. Think athletes in uniform, businessperson, local news anchor, etc.

u Organize a “School Breakfast: Before & After” art contest at your school—see page 10 for details.

u Ask students to write a short essay or poem about how school breakfast helps them succeed in school.

u Makeover your Menus! If you don’t have time to develop a special, new menu for NSBW, consider just re-naming some of your breakfast menu staples to embrace the “Make the Grade” theme. For example—a sausage biscuit can be a “Smarty Pants Sausage Biscuit.”

u Bring in some ‘surprise’ special guest servers during NSBW. Consider asking some of the popular teachers or the Principal if they wouldn’t mind working on the line for 20 minutes or so to serve breakfast to the kids.

u Consider developing a simple, 1-page “Report Card” poll. Ask students to rate their favorite breakfast menu items with an academic grading scale (A+ to C, to represent the “Make the Grade” theme).

u Ask administrators if NSBW can be mentioned in the school’s morning announcements! You can share your menu items and encourage kids to stop by.

u Send your photos to SNA via email or Facebook message during NSBW, and they may be featured on the page that week! Check out how other districts are celebrating at www.facebook.com/schoolnutritionassociation.

CelebrationIdeas

Plan a Perfect Celebration!Check out some of the celebration and marketing ideas in this toolkit and then get started organizing an A+ NSBW celebration!

MEMBER CELEBRATION

EXAMPLE:We advertise NSBW

using our menus, PA announcements,

and letters to parents. We decorate the

cafeterias with balloons, posters and

colorful chalk on our chalkboards. We also

promote the SNA drawing contest and get

a lot of entries.

—Colleen Koehler, Assistant Foodservice

Director, Appleton Area School District, NY

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Our special member resource website has a number of useful tools and celebration ideas to help get you ready for a successful NSBW. Check out some of the online tools at www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw:

u Fun NSBW sample menus (available online in Fall 2014)

u Backpack Brochures for students and parents

u Downloadable Presentations to go over with your staff, administrators, the PTA, etc.

u A customizable press release and proclamation to get the word out

u Activity Sheets to get students thinking about breakfast

u Banner ad for school websites

u Official NSBW logos and artwork

“Make the Grade with School Breakfast” MerchandiseTo make your NSBW celebration come alive, purchase official merchandise from SNA’s Emporium. You will find a wide range of bright, fun items such as t-shirts and aprons, as well as pencils, balloons and other small give-aways for students. Shop online at http://emporium.schoolnutrition.org or call 1-800-728-0728 to order by phone.

Super-Smart Tools & Resources

Resources

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5/5/14 10:55 AM

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PR Support One of the best ways to make your breakfast celebration a hit is to invite local media to cover the event. SNA has a sample NSBW press release to help you help secure media coverage. Simply download and fill in your own details! Visit www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw or call SNA Headquarters for further information at 1-800-877-8822.

ProclamationMake NSBW an official event in your community with a proclamation. A proclamation is a good way to add some ceremony to your celebrations by having the mayor or another dignitary sign and attest it. You may download a sample proclamation at www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw.

Notes

“Make the Grade with School Breakfast” Logos and ArtworkThe official full-color “Make the Grade” artwork and logos are available for use in helping to promote your breakfast program and NSBW. There’s even a cover photo for your Facebook page! Add the logos and images to your menus, website, bulletin board, social media sites, or school newsletter. Download the artwork today at www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw.

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There’s a wealth of information available online about the important connection between a healthy breakfast and academic success. To get you started, here are some quick facts for you to use in your promotion. Each source links directly to the study referenced.

Fast Facts

FACT: Students who eat breakfast have better attention and memory. Research indicates the quality of foods children eat impacts cognition — with poor nutrition linked with absenteeism, hunger symptoms and psychosocial problems. Source: The Wellness Impact Report, 2013 (Compiled by the National Dairy Council, GENYOUth, the American School Health Association, and the American College of Sports Medicine).

FACT: Students who eat school breakfast attend, on average, 1.5 more days of school per year and score 17.5% higher on standardized math tests. Source: Ending Childhood Hunger: A Social Analysis, 2013 (Compiled by Share Our Strength and Deloitte)

FACT: Students who participate in school breakfast show improved attendance, behavior, standardized achievement test scores as well as decreased tardiness. Providing students with breakfast in the classroom setting is associated with lower tardy rates and fewer disciplinary office referrals.Source: Breakfast for Learning, 2014 (Compiled by the Food Research and Action Council)

FACT: The School Breakfast Program significantly improves the cognitive abilities and learning capacities of children. Low-income children who receive school breakfast do better on a variety of indicators than low-income peers who go without breakfast. Significantly, the better outcomes associated with school breakfast include

educational preparedness (attendance, energy, alertness, memory) and educational outcome measurements (math scores, grades, reading ability). Source: Impact of School Breakfast on Children’s Health & Learning, 2008 (Compiled by The Sodexo Foundation)

Use this research to your advantage in your NSBW messages to administrators and parents!

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Check out the tips below to help you spread the word about your school breakfast program:

u Plug in your district’s information to the template press release and list yourself as the contact. Send it to a targeted list of local media contacts via email about 10 days prior to NSBW.

u Get others involved! Speak to teachers, administrators, parents and others to gather support for a NSBW celebration. They may be able to promote NSBW in the classroom or during an assembly,

u Use social media, like your school’s listserv, Facebook page or Twitter account, to help reach parents. You can draft your posts in advance to make it easier. Don’t forget to share photos, too. Just ask your school district’s communications office about who you should send posts to.

u Publicize NSBW on the back of your school menus, in school newspapers, newsletter and on your website.

u Order and distribute the NSBW 2015 backpack brochure for kids and parents. Free copies are available through SNA’s Emporium—you just pay the shipping.

Promote Your Program!

The backpack brochure is great for spreading the school breakfast message to students and parents. The brochure outlines how the school nutrition program works and the benefits of eating a healthy school breakfast. It’s a great way to widen your influence outside of the cafeteria. You can download the brochure at: www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw.

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Be sure to mention NSBW and “Make the Grade with School Breakfast” on your menus. Below is some sample text to include on your menus that you can tailor to highlight any new or special recipes you are serving. You can also include the “Make the Grade with School Breakfast” logos and art, available to download at www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw.

Make sure you emphasize any recent changes you have made to your menus. If you’re serving more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, and lower sodium foods at breakfast, don’t forget to inform parents!

MenuMarketing

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Make the Grade with School Breakfast!

A healthy school breakfast sets students up for success in the classroom every day. This week is National School Breakfast Week and to celebrate, we are serving reduced-fat sausage breakfast sandwiches, fresh apple slices, 100% fruit juice, and low-fat milk!

National School Breakfast WeekMarch 2-6, 2015

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • Make the Grade with School Breakfast!

A healthy school breakfast sets students up for success in the classroom every day. This week is National School Breakfast Week and to celebrate, we are serving a veggie and egg scramble, fresh orange slices, 100% orange juice and low-fat milk!

National School Breakfast WeekMarch 2-6, 2015

Notes Notes

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The 2015 art contest asks students to draw or color how they feel before and after eating a healthy school breakfast. They can create a drawing showing how school breakfast gives them energy, improves their mood, and gets them ready for the day ahead.

“School Breakfast: Before & After”

Art ContestHealthy school breakfast makes a big difference for many students!

Contest Overviewu The contest is open to students in grades 1-12.

u SNA is encouraging schools across the nation to hold their own local art contests. School Nutrition Professionals or other participating school officials can enter 3 overall winners per school to the national contest.

u All entries by students must be made to a local competition (to be organized by and held in schools). Please note that the only way to enter this contest is through a participating school, students cannot enter the national contest directly or through a parent.

u On the official entry form, students should draw a picture of how they feel before and after a healthy school breakfast. The picture can reflect their mood, energy, alertness, or creativity.

u Students should draw their submissions on the official contest entry form. Submissions must include a short caption.

u A panel of judges will select three national winners, based on pre-established criteria that will be published as part of the official contest rules.

u Entries must be original, not plagiarized and not evocative of any existing commercial characters so as not to infringe any copyrights or trademarks.

u Entries are due Tuesday March 31, 2015.

Three winners will have their submissions published on the SNA website and receive special prize packs from SNA!

Find complete contest rules and entry forms at www.schoolnutrition.org/nsbw.

Entries are due March 31, 2015. Mail them to:

SNA Attn: NSBW Art Contest

120 Waterfront Street, Suite 300 National Harbor, MD 20745

Sleepy Super-Energized

Running on empty Ready to work

Cranky Creative

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Share Your Celebration

u Share your NSBW experience with SNA. Send your photos and a brief recap of your promotion to snmagazine@schoolnutrition.org, and your story may be featured in the November 2015 issue!

u Share your photos on bulletin boards, your school’s newspaper/newsletter, the website, and on social media.

u Start planning your NSBW 2016 celebration!

Before you know it, NSBW will be over. After your celebration ends, there are plenty of ways to help keep the excitement going. Consider some of the ideas below to help your NSBW celebration live on: